Ideological racism includes strongly positive images of the white self
as well as strongly negative images of racial “others”25. This
self-image engenders a self-perpetuating sense of entitlement because
many whites believe their financial and professional successes are the
result of their own efforts while ignoring the fact of white privilege.
Because most whites have not been trained to think complexly about
racism in schools26 or mainstream discourse, and because it benefits
white dominance not to do so, we have a very limited understanding of
racism. Yet dominance leads to racial arrogance, and in this racial
arrogance, whites have no compunction about debating the knowledge of
people who have thought complexly about race. Whites generally feel free
to dismiss these informed perspectives rather than have the humility to
acknowledge that they are unfamiliar, reflect on them further, or seek
more information. This intelligence and expertise are often trivialized
and countered with simplistic platitudes (i.e. “People just need to…”).

Because of white social, economic and political power within a white
dominant culture, whites are positioned to legitimize people of color’s
assertions of racism. Yet whites are the least likely to see,
understand, or be invested in validating those assertions and being
honest about their consequences, which leads whites to claim that they
disagree with perspectives that challenge their worldview, when in fact,
they don’t understand the perspective.Thus, they confuse not
understanding with not agreeing. This racial arrogance, coupled with the
need for racial comfort, also has whites insisting that people of color
explain white racism in the “right” way. The right way is generally
politely and rationally, without any show of emotional upset. When
explained in a way that white people can see and understand, racism’s
validity may be granted (references to dynamics of racism that white
people do not understand are usually rejected out of hand). However,
whites are usually more receptive to validating white racism if that
racism is constructed as residing in individual white people other than
themselves.